* Fall-leaf stained glass designs Colorful fall leaves wooden ice cream sticks paper towels old crayons pieces waxed paper paper clips kitchen towel iron tape 1.) Take your class on a walk outdoors and collect 4 or 5 fall leaves. 2.) Give each child a ice cream stick, paper towel, and some pieces of old crayon. Ask each child to make crayon shaving over the paper towel by scraping the side of the ice cream stick against the crayon. Each child should make a handful of shavings. 3.) Next, give your child 2 12"long pieces of waxed paper. Children will then arrange their fall leaves on one of their pieces of waxed paper. have the children sprinkle colored wax in the spaces between the leaves. 4.) Ask each child to lay a second piece of waxed paper on top of his or her leaf arrangement. Use paper clips to attach each childs pieces of waxed paper together. 5.) Place a towel over the paper, to protect the iron. then set the iron at a low temperature and iron each childs arrangement. 6.) Then display in the window! * Wise Owl Cut an owl from brown and tan construction paper. Make eyes from orange and yellow pieces of construction paper. Tear up small pieces of newspaper and glue to the chest area for a mottled feather look. * Lunch bag Pumpkins Use a regular brwon paper lunch bag to make this craft. Color the bottom half of the bag orange. Take a green string and gather up the top and tie the bag shut. Paint the top of the bag green. Add Jack o lantern face to orange part.. * Thumbprint pumpkins Give each child a sheet of white or yellow construction paper. pour small amountsof orange paint into shallow containers. Have the kids dip their thumb into the paints and press them all over the paper. When the paint has dried, help the children turn their thumbprints into pumpkins by adding stems, leaves and vines with a green marker! * Leaf Match Use a glue stick to glue leaves plucked from 4-6 different trees on to a poster board. Cover with clear contact paper. Sandwich leaves of the same size and variety between two pieces of clear contact paper. Trim around each leaves leaving a o " sealed edge. Set the board and leaves on a tray. The children match the leaves. * Pumpkin Hunt Ask some avid tennis players to save (flat) orange tennis balls for you. Use a permanent black marker to draw Jack O' Lantern faces on some of the balls. Hide the balls in the play yard. As the children find them, they sort them into one of two bushel baskets - one for plain pumpkins and one for Jack O Lanterns. * Song to sing during the hunt. (Tune: Paw Paw Patch) Pickin' up pumpkins; put 'em in the basket, Pickin' up Pumpkins; put 'em in the basket Pickin' up Pumpkins; put 'em in the basket Way down yonder in the pumpkin patch. * Activity: Make a scarecrow in the play yard. We used a child size flannel shirt and coveralls. Slide the pants on to the bottom of a wood tee, pounded into the ground. The children crumble newspaper and stuff the pants. Fit the shirt onto the T, and stuff. Our head was made from two plastic garbage bags, inside each other for strength, stuffed with newspaper. Use a rubber band to hold it together. Draw on facial features. Push the rubber band over the top pole, and secure well with making tape. Add a neck banana and a straw hat. * Aluminum Foil Leaves pieces of aluminum foil leaves glue construction paper Set out pieces of aluminum foil and a variety of fall leaves. Let each child select a leaf, place it under a piece of foil, and gently press and rub the foil with his or her hand to get a leaf print. Then have the children glue their leaf prints to the construction paper * Leaf Prints newspaper leaves tempra paint (red, orange, yellow) paintbrushes black construction paper. Have the children select one or two leaves and place them on a piece of newspaper. Let thelm paint their leves red, yellow and orange. Then help each child place a sheet of black construction paper over the painted leaves and gently press down to make a print. You can keep doing this until you put as many leaves on the black paper as the child wants to fill up the page. The kids really enjoy doing this one and so does the teacher. I always make one for myself. * FALL WALK Go for a walk and collect leaves. Make a tree outline by tracing childs hand with fingers spread apart. Glue leaves onto the "tree" * LEAF MAN Glue on of the leaves onto the center of paper (use the leaf as the body) draw head, arms and legs. * PAPER PLATE APPLES Let children paint both sides of a paper plate. (apple halves) attach paper leaves and stem and glue a few apple seeds in the center of the plate. *Giant Scarecrows(long) Preparation: The week before we make scarecrows, I send a letter to the parents explaining the project. I ask each parent to send in one child sized long sleeve shirt, one child sized pair of long pants, one solid colored pillowcase, and one newspaper(each item clearly labeled with the child's name.) I explain that the clothes will not be returned in their original condition. I have them check off if they can't provide a certain item and tell them that it will be provided for their child. I also tend to get parents who send in extras for other children. I've built up a large collection over the last 10 years! In another letter, I ask for parents to come in and volunteer to help us sew the scarecrows together. I give them a choice of 2 days and times. For this project, I never say no to a parent. The more volunteers you get, the quicker the project goes. Directions: Day 1) Legs (no parents needed) - I use string to tie the bottoms of the legs of the pants. The children crumple pieces of newspaper into balls and stuff the pants. When finished, it looks like a full pair of pants. I line them up on the windowsill. They stand quite easily. Day 2) Shirts (parents needed)- I use string to tie the end of each sleeve and the bottom of the shirt. The children crumple pieces of newspaper into balls and stuff the shirt making sure to get inside the sleeves. The children bring their stuffed shirt and pants over to a parent and the parent sews them together. ***Remind the parents to sew the front of the shirt to the front of the pants! Day 3) Head (parents needed) - I cut the pillowcase in half. Two children can really use one pillowcase. The children spread the pillowcase onto the floor and place pieces of crumpled newspaper into the center. I ask them to decide how big they want the head to be. When they are ready, I wrap the pillowcase around the newspaper balls and tie it at the bottom. The children bring their sewn shirt and pants over to a parent and the parent sews the head to the body. Day 4) Decorating (no parents needed)- The children use any materials that they would like to decorate their scarecrows. They paint the face, use buttons for the eyes, pom-poms, yarn for hair, felt scraps for decorations, etc. It is totally up to the child to decide how to decorate his/her scarecrow. Many children sit the scarecrow in a chair(like the beauty parlor) and decorate. Day 5) Sticks (no parents needed)- I have wooden dowels, 3 feet long. The child lays the scarecrow on its "belly." I use a scissor to cut a hole through the pants, shirt, and neck. The child pushes a wooden dowel through the holes. I use a hammer and one thumbtack to attach the scarecrow to the dowel(the thumbtack usually goes through the top of the shirt and into the top of the dowel.) Well, that's pretty much it. The most important things to remember are to be PREPARED and FLEXIBLE. Some children decide not to put their scarecrows on sticks. Others do the whole thing in one day. They see how it looks and then begin. Some volunteers who come to sew heads might be helping with shirts and pants. I should also mention that all of the string tying and pillowcase cutting is done before the children come to school. I put their pants, shirts, or pillowcases(depending on the day) in their cubbies, ready to be stuffed. One more suggestion... Take lots of pictures. We put together a scarecrow book which describes the sequence and, of course, shows each child with his/her individual scarecrow. We also display them for the school. The children are so proud of them!!!! Parents of past years often tell me how, each year, they put their scarecrow out for Halloween. *We go for a Fall Walk every year and look for leaves and nuts. Then we go home and glue what we find onto paper to make pictures. We have made turkeys using the leaves for the tail, animals using the leaves as body shapes, houses, aliens, etc. We also glue the nuts into animal shapes. We have used the leaves and nuts to talk about colors and shapes and size and started collections with them. * Autumn Leaves Materials: Construction paper, waxed paper, old crayon (red, orange and yellow, plastic bag, hammer, iron Preparation: Cut construction paper into leaf frames. Place crayons in a plastic bag and let the children help pound them into little pieces with a hammer. Cut waxed paper into sheets. Plug in iron. Let the children place crayon pieces between two sheets of waxed paper. Then press over the papers with an iron to melt the crayons and waxed paper sheets together. Put leaf frames around the finished picutres and hang them in a window. *Cornstarch Impressions Materials: Cornstarch, baking soda, water, saucepan, waxed paper, nature objects such as leaves, twigs and flowers Preparation: In a saucepan, mix together 1 cup cornstarch, 2 cups baking soda, and 1 1/4 cups water. Cook over medium heat until the mixture thickens. Cool, then flatten mixture between sheets of waxed paper. Let the children lay leaves, twigs, flowers or other nature objects on top of the cornstarch mixture and press them down firmly. Then have them remove the objects to see the detailed impressions they made. *Paper Plate Apples Let the children paint the back sides of paper plates red to make 'apple halves.' When the paint has dried, attach precut construction paper leaves and stems. Then let the children each glue a few apple seeds in the centers of the white sides of their plates. (Use seeds from other activities in this unit.) *Window Painting Paint a fall scene on your window. Use the following recipe and the paint is easily removed. Give each child a window to decorate. Window Paint 2 Tbsp powdered tempera paint 1 Tbsp warm water 1 tsp Joy dish washing liquid Measure powdered paint into a container. Mix in water thoroughly to achieve a smooth paste. Add JOY, mixing completely, but gently, to avoid making paint too sudsy. Dries on windows in 5 - 10 minutes. Washes off easily with a solution of water and vinegar. *Leaf Bracelets Wrap a piece of masking tape (sticky side out) around each child's wrist. Go on a nature walk and have children collect one leaf from each of several trees, sticking it on their leaf bracelet. When the class returns, sit in circle. Teacher holds up each leaf shape in turn and lets children identify similar leaf on their bracelets. Let children wear their bracelets home and check the types of leaves in their yards.